Everything we know about BioShock 4

Rumors about BioShock 4 have been circulating since shortly after the release of BioShock Infinite in 2013. The once ubiquitous retrofuturistic first-person shooter series has effectively fallen off the face of the earth since then, but alleged leaks and unconfirmed reports have popped up periodically. BioShock 4 Rumors began just before the release of Infinites second DLC, Burial at Sea: Episode TwoWhen series creator Ken Levine announced that it would be the last BioShock Game developed by his studio, Irrational Games. Now called Ghost Story Games, it is currently working on a BioShock-inspired title called Judah.

Publisher 2K soon took the BioShock Coat, promising another title coming soon. This iteration of BioShock 4 Was initially to be developed by in-house studio 2K Marin, but was later outsourced to third-party studio Certain Affinity, then brought back under the 2K umbrella with the help of a new internal developer. It is difficult to separate rumor from fact in the case of BioShock 4And 2K’s restraint in revealing information about it doesn’t help. However, by comparing a laundry list of unconfirmed speculations with the cold, hard facts, it is possible to get a picture of what is going on.

BioShock 4 Leaks & Rumors

What we don’t know about BioShock 4

After five years of radio silence, the issue of BioShock 4 Resurrected in 2018. A Kotaku This year’s article on 2K development studio Hangar 13 revealed that some of its employees have been hard at work on a top-secret project with the working title Parkside. Rumors spread, first internally, and then through the resulting Kotaku Profile, that Parkside is actually a codename for BioShock 4. This was, of course, never confirmed by anyone in 2K or Hangar 13. If this version of Parkside Really was BioShock 4 In disguise, it seems to have been rebooted.

Later, in 2023, leaks emerged climbing BioShock 4 was in development hell. This revelation A new purported title – BioShock: Isolation. It also confirmed earlier leaks from the same source claiming that the sequel has an Antarctic setting. The leaks still claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic and high staff turnover had stalled BioShock 4s production, but that it is still technically an active project. None of this has ever been officially confirmed, but it would seem that the leaks got at least one thing right: despite a lack of news, BioShock 4 is still technically in development.

What followed was another year of silence, until An image purported to be the first screenshot of BioShock 4 Leaks online in July 2024. The image is generic enough that it certainly could be from BioShock 4But could be straight out of any game with a slightly retrofuturistic slant in which players use guns and elemental powers against enemies. The main focus of the screenshot is on some sort of beacon, set on an arched, Space Needle-esque pedestal against an overcast sky.

The player holds a ricochet shotgun, and in the lower left corner, three abilities in a small hotbar: one with a magnet for an icon, one with a stopwatch, and one with a lightning bolt. Again, this could certainly be the next evolution of BioShocks plasmids, but are generic enough that they could be almost any game’s abilities. The most obvious piece of evidence is the fact that the caption “Parkside Demo” appears at the bottom of the screenshot. This is certainly compelling, but could also easily be edited in.

Confirmed news on BioShock 4

What we know about BioShock 4

In December 2019, after the emergence of the Parkside rumours, 2K has confirmed that BioShock 4 was in development. This would be the responsibility of a new internal studio, Cloud Chamber. Some BioShock Alumni have signed on, including BioShock And BioShock Infinites art director Scott Sinclair, and series veteran Hogarth de la Plante.

Little else has been announced by 2K or Cloud Chamber on the matter. As of July 2024, the BioShock 4 team apparently began “Ramping up” DevelopmentAccording to a lot of job listings that suddenly appeared on the Cloud Chamber website. The listings made it abundantly clear that they were for open positions on the BioShock Development team, but were pretty vague on details, which makes it difficult to infer anything about the actual content of BioShock 4 Based on the job listings alone.

When BioShock 4 may release

The potential release date of BioShock 4

basically, There is absolutely no way to know when BioShock 4 should come out. Nothing in any of the leaks or official confirmation has revealed anything even close to resembling a release window. It’s almost certainly not out in 2024, as it’s October at the time of writing and no announcements have been made. It may not come out in 2025, or even 2026 for that matter. With all the reboot it has undergone, and development only “Ramping up“As recently as July, BioShock 4 could easily still be several years away.

actually, There is no guarantee that BioShock 4 even came out during the current console generation. If the PS6 and the next Xbox don’t come out until 2027 or 2028, as they are rumored to do, BioShock 4 Could easily be a launch title for one or both of​​​​these consoles.

So, despite a ton of rumors and a handful of official confirmations, little more is known about the current state of the next BioShock As it was when 2K first announced its intentions to develop one. It may be several years before any further information on BioShock 4 has been revealed, and its release date is still likely to be far in the future – for now, fans will just have to wait.

Sources: Kotaku, Cloud chamber